The Three-Headed Scandal Monster

Brooke takes a look at the three scandals that have dominated the news cycle for the past couple weeks: the IRS targeting conservative political groups, the DOJ looking through the phone records and email of reporters, and the attack on the diplomatic mission in Benghazi.

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The reason that the public has such low interest/regard for the Benghazi story, and indeed the other Obama scandals, is the way that Obama scandals are covered by the mainstream media.

A Republican scandal would be given context, and meaning, and care by the mainstream media.

Democrat scandals are treated as incomprehensible turf wars by the two parties. And partisan squabbles are always thought of as unimportant by the public.

The first and most important thing I want to know about the people supplying the news is who they voted for. I mostly know; I know from the way that they deliver that news. I just want it to be clear, and transparent, and public. I think it's important, because I cannot help but think that the power of the mainstream media must give Democrats about a 5% or 6% bump in opinion polling, and in electoral results.

I think the thing that should be troubling for the press is the public reaction tho their outrage.

It isn't that we (the great unwashed) don't know about the current state of hair on fire it's that we are at least as suspicious of the political press's motives as we are about the motives of the government. Not good!

The press should at least command more trust than the government.

Asleep at the wheel during a lead up to war or the mess on wall street....I could go on.

That corrosion in trust is real and much of it is a self inflicted wound.

The line from Lawrence O'Donnell had it right. Every organization with the name of a political party in its name should have come under increased scrutiny, or rejected out of hand. And, it turns out that out of 298 applications, 72 "Tea Party" organizations received increased scrutiny. AND THEY ALL GOT THEIR STATUS GRANTED. 72 out of 298. All were granted status.

And the scandal is what; that they got scrutinized, or that they were granted 501(c)(4) status?

Scandal? The real scandal is the dishonesty of the organizations, mostly tea-party Republican, seeking 501(c)(4) status. They want to accept big donations from ultra-rich people and corporations without revealing those donors' names. The IRS was criticized - by the same groups - of allowing undeserved Earned Income Credit, Child Tax Credit, and withholding credits. Not enough scrutiny, they said. This was not long ago at all. The IRS has had to develop protocols to help separate the legitimate from the bogus. The many 501(c)(4)'s claiming to be "social welfare" organizations but actually, like Karl Rove's "Crossroads" gang, engaging in 99.99% politics - that's the real scandal.